My advise is if you are going the DSLR route (which I recommend) don't focus too much on the body at this point, in fact get a cheap used body, I would spend my money on good lenses, if you look after them they will last many many years and will hold their value well, bodies on the other hand get old and loose value fast, if you go DSLR your first choice would be (IMHO) to go with Canon or Nikon because like me 10, 20 years from now when you have a ton of money invested in lenses its just too expensive to switch. I am a Canon man but these companies go in cycles as to who has the nicest bodies and right now I think that Nikon is in the lead, a year from now it could swing back to Canon.Having said all that, if you are not looking to get into photography as a hobby then I would say the DSLR route is probably not the way to go, for example I have just bought a little point and shoot for my wife that has a lens that can reach further than my 1D & 100-400 (thats $7000 woth) and thats optically not digitally and takes some great photos.http://pages.samsung.com/ca/galaxycamera/English/

I am seriously considering a Nikon Coolpix p510. Its a bridge camera but has 42x zoom (which translates to almost 60 - 1000mm!) and retails for only R4K. The reviews on this camera are generally very positive.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Ghandi

Arks, I've just bought a Panasonic FZ200 and so far I'm having great fun with it. The 24 x optical zoom is great with f2.8 all the way to full zoom. Pic quality is good enough for me as my reason for getting it is really as a video cam fill in until I can find find the right replacement for my dedicated video camera.

It shoots good quality HD video at 100 fps which gives great slow motion for wild life. Having a 600mm lens in a small camera like that is unbeleivably convenient

Only thing i dont like so far is the manual focus, but that may just require a little more practice. Of course the write time between shots takes a bit of getting used to after an SLR, but we cant have everything for R6000.

Thanks, Hawk! It's very helpful to have feedback from someone who's actually using this camera. It sounds great on paper, but I know that there will also be 'adjustments' -- like the write time -- to those differences from the DSLR. However, the older I get, the less happy I am with lugging around my heavy collection of bodies and lenses. This FZ200 sounds like a reasonable alternative if I can get used to the limitations.

Massimo wrote:Hey guys, I have bought and sold many goods. The reason as to why people sell their camera stuff is to upgrade to something that is better. People start off with lets say a 450D canon and then they use that camera to the max and then decide to upgrade to lets say a canon 7D. Some people can afford to keep the 450D but some need that extra cash to afford the 7d and that two is a second hand body. There is nothing wrong with buying second hand as long as you know what to look out for. I know of a couple of places that sell second hand stuff with a warranty.

As a canon user I would look at getting something like a 650D with a 55-250lens kit and then save up for something decent. I have learnt rather save up for a good lens then just go out and spend on a lens cause u need it now!! If you really want a very GOOD decent body then save up for the 7D second hand goes for around R9k but you wont be sorry!! Like I said im a canon user so this would be my suggestions if you need more help just shout

Massimo, who can you recommend in or around the 'Vale? I know Kameraz in Rosebank, but I would prefer someone closer. (A camera specialist, of course)

Bert, how have you found the manual focus? Is the little slider on the left of the lens the only control for man focus? I found it very sensitive and very dificult to control, but I must admit that I havn't spent too much time on the camera yet, having only had it for a week.

Also wondering if the expanded view for focus assist can be reduced in size to just a centre portion of the evf. I find it confusing when the whole screen zooms suddenly.

bert wrote:Arks, i have the FZ200 already for over a year and used it twice in KrugerEasy to use, great optics and a very good imagesBut dont go above ISO 400Does get a bit grainy.

And one of the best features is filmingQuality if great

Thanks bert And further thanks to you and Hawk for the continued discussion of features of this camera. My problem now is that I haven't yet found one locally that I can take a look at. My usual camera store doesn't yet stock it

Thanks, bert I'd seen the dpreview review but not the others. And I've also seen some excellent pix shot with the Canon SX50 HS. But I really like the idea of the Panasonic's 2.8f lens, which must counterblance (at least to some extent) the need for higher ISO?